Those who enabled me most on a daily basis were “Ray’s Angels”
(Marilyn Caufield, Petra Koegel, Kristy Merola, and Christina Drossakis),
“Ray’s Leveragers” (Zack Wieder, Dave Alpert, Jen Gonyo, and Andrew
Sternlight—and past leveragers Elise Waxenberg, David Manners-Weber,
and John Woody), and “Ray’s Researchers” (Steven Kryger, Gardner Davis,
and Brandon Rowley—and past researcher Mark Dinner). I am also thankful
to Jason Rotenberg, Noah Yechiely, Karen Karniol-Tambour, Bruce
Steinberg, Larry Cofsky, Bob Elliott, Ramsen Betfarhad, Kevin Brennan,
Kerry Reilly, and Jacob Kline, who are among the next generation who help
spark and shape our investment principles; to Jeff Gardner, Jim Haskel, Paul
Podolsky, Rob Zink, Mike Colby, Lionel Kaliff, Joel Whidden, Brian
Lawlor, Tom Bachner, Jim White, Kyle Delaney, Ian Wang, Parag Shah, and
Bill Mahoney, who have personified our principles to our clients; to Dave
Ferrucci, who, more than anyone else, has helped me convert the Work
Principles into algorithms; and to Jeff Taylor, Steve Elfanbaum, Stuart
Friedman, and Jen Healy, who are helping me convert them into common
sense for a lot of people. Though my interests and directions have always
been diverse, these teams made my missions their missions, and kept me
moving forward. Without their help, I wouldn’t have accomplished anything
close to what I have. Thank you for enduring me and for selflessly supporting
me.
Whatever beauty you see in the book’s design was the result of Phil
Caravaggio’s generosity and talent. After I put the original version of
Principles online as a PDF, he came to me as a stranger bearing the gift of a
gorgeously designed print edition, created with the help of the artistic book
designer Rodrigo Corral. Phil, who is a brilliant entrepreneur in his own right,
just wanted to thank me because the principles had helped him. The book’s
beauty astounded me, and Phil’s account of what these principles meant to
him was another gift that nudged me closer to making the book a reality.
Once I decided to make it, Phil went on to work tirelessly with Rodrigo to
shape the aesthetic of what you are now holding in your hands—doing so
again solely as a gift. Thank you, Phil!
Six years ago, Jofie Ferrari-Adler, Executive Editor at Simon & Schuster,
read the principles online, found them valuable, and explained to me why
sharing this book was an important thing for me to do to help others. He has
been a valued partner in making that happen. In exploring my publishing
options, I triangulated with others to find the best agent available. This search